68 vessels transit the Canal with a net tonnage of 3.6 million tons - Suez Canal Authority
In his statement, the Suez Canal Authority Chairman and Managing Director Osama Rabie, 68 vessels transited the Canal in both directions with net tonnage amounting to 3.6 million tons.
Admiral Rabie has conveyed a message of reassurance concerning the regularity of the navigation traffic in the Canal at normal rates, stressing that the Authority's acquisition of necessary salvage expertise as well as the necessary capabilities technical and navigational safety to handle breakdowns, in addition to the availability of the essential infrastructure in order to deal with abrupt emergencies especially after opening the New Suez Canal project and development projects related to constructing a series of garages along the new waterway.
In this regard, his excellency has pointed to the Authority's immediate action of handling the engine trouble that happened to one of the transiting vessels which is the container ship, MAERSK EMERALD, during its transit among the South-bound convoy, accenting on that the Authority has handled the whole situation professionally as the vessel grounded after a sudden breakdown of the vessel's engines and rudder, pointing out to the immediate action of the Authority's salvage groups to deal with the situation and carry out salvage and floatation works with the assistance of 4 tugboats led by the tugboat Baraka 1 of pulling force 160 tons, as they acted on the spot which allowed the vessel to resume its transit through the canal after having the breakdown fixed by the vessel's crew and it is anchoring at the Great Bitter Lakes to check the technical status.
The SCA Chairman highlighted that the navigation through the canal was not impacted by any means as the transit of the South-bound convoy has been shifted to the New Suez Canal through the Eastern Al-Defreswar by-pass which stresses the importance of the New Suez Canal in leveraging the navigational safety rates and its ability to handle any emergencies.
It is worth mentioning that the Singaporian-flagged container ship MAERSK EMERALD is 353 meters in overall length with a beam of 48 meters in width and a draft of 15.50 meters in depth with a load tonnage amounting to 146 thousand tons.
